Adventure Ausrama Blog

Mystery egg of the Night Parrot in Tanami Desert? A mystery egg was found in the Tanami Desert of northern Australia 30 years ago. Many latched on to this specimen as being from the Night Parrot, thought to be extinct. DNA from the egg was compared to DNA of Night Parrot specimens in the Queensland Museum. The Brown Quail was found to be the "mother" of the Tanami egg. All hope was not lost, however. In 2013 the Night Parrot was found to be still with us. A small population was discovered living in Western Australia, far away from Queensland. Much has been leaned about the environmental requirements for the rare bird's survival. This shows that human hope is very strong. We will attribute links to things that are very weak. The egg does have unusual characteristics : it is sand white, not like the quail egg which is pale but speckled brown. It is pointed at one end though, typical of the quail. ◆ Ornithology by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Tys Country Amusing Animal Photos...

Rice came from Asia, more specifically China, right? You would be wrong. Genetic tests on rice grown today show it come from northern Australia. It was clean, uncontaminated and has been pinned down to Cape York in Queensland. Originally, it was growing wild in the tropics, an unusal place for rice as we associate it with wet conditions all year round. The real question is how did it get to Asia? Obviously, people from Asia came to Australia and took it home. The Middle East is the cradle of Mankind. For rice it is Australia. Wild rice growing there today is more genetically diverse than anywhere else in the world. Asian domestic and wild rice is inbred. Australian rice is wild. It grows there today unchanged by human intervention. This took place 7,000 years ago. Australian rice will be the basis of research to improve world food production. It holds the genetic keys to open the door very wide indeed. Modern rice varieties are just little sparks from the fire...

Queensland University of Technology plans to use genetic modifiers in vitamins as a treatment for migraine. This is problematic as health professionals do not really know what migraine is. Botox injections to the forehead has been used successfully to relieve the pain to date. It is quite a "quacky" area of medicine. About the only main factor about it is that it causes a feeling of nausea along with the pain and an aversion to light. India is the test ground for the gene treatment. A migraine marker in the Parsi population is the target. If vitamins are useful per se , why is the ailment common in the West where we take too many of them? As a child and adolescent I suffered from it. In my opinion it was brought on when the eyes were overworked. Reading small text was a no no for me. As I grew older it faded and I can say I have not had a migraine for 20 years.  Have I changed my diet or vitamin intake - not really. Just how scientists make the link betwe...

"A great hairdo, eh?" Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vista Computer Solutions Blog        Australian Blog ★                          ALL BLOG ARTICLES · ──► ( BLOG HOME PAGE) Share Article

Carfish are fairly mundane creatures. If you are fishing and you hook one thinking it is a big pike you are annoyed when you drag it in, and "drag" it the defining word. They are usually a dead weight on the line. On the other hand if you are a biologist all animals are of interest. A combined US, Australia team has discovered a new catfish species in North Queensland. It has a tail like an eel, not the usual fish-like tail. Apparently, people knew of its existence for many years and just assumed it was like any other catfish. Tandanus tropicanus is cylindrical in body shape. It has a large head and tiny eyes. DNA tests showed that the fish is a distinct species. Overall, its body configuration is different from other catfish. Unlike many catfish it is good to eat. Fishermen have been catching it for many years for food not knowing how unique it was. Despite the accumulation of human knowledge about the world there is a lot we still do not know abo...

Is it safe to go out? Well maybe not. A spider was seen eating a bird in Cairns, north Queensland. The golden orb weaver spider usually eats insects. It is a step up for it to consume a bird. The bird had flown into the spider's web and become weak. Then the spider attacked it. Golden orb spiders grow much larger than the one shown in the photograph. Though they were not thought capable of eating a whole bird. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Science

It has recently been discovered that the way to fight the intrusive cane toad in Australia is to fence off all waterholes and dams. Without water they die. Another method has also been identified. A chemical that is in the toad itself is used against it. Tadpoles contain this chemical that kills toad eggs on contact. Those that survive grow at a slower rate than normal, so they are more vulnerable to predators. The chemical is harmless to native species. Ways of implementing this strategy nationwide need to be developed, but this is only a matter of time. The pest has just reached the far west coast of Australia, leaping its way across the whole country. West Australians are on search and destroy missions into the night. Queenslanders gave up on this years ago at it had no impact on their numbers. The fight continues. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.te...